A short few games into the Charlotte Hornets’ season, James Borrego pulled Jeremy Lamb aside to talk.

Why haven’t you been a starter in this league?

Together, the first-year head coach and former UConn standout discussed the topic at length, identifying specific areas and reasons as to why that was.

I believe you can be if you want to be.

The question Borrego posed was a fair one. Lamb is in his seventh year in the league. As the 12th overall selection in the 2012 NBA Draft, there were high hopes for the Huskies sophomore to transition seamlessly into the professional ranks.

It wasn’t quite as cut and dry as some may have thought it would be.

The Houston Rockets picked him in that draft, but it wasn’t long before they sent Lamb to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the infamous James Harden trade, mere days before the season began.

During his three-year stint with the Thunder, Lamb showed plenty of flashes of what he could become at this level. However, with the likes of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in front of him, among others, his chances to do so were sporadic.

“Everybody’s road is different,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. “Me, when I first got in the league, I was playing behind All-Stars. I wasn’t in a position to play at that time. I wasn’t big enough to play.”

Knowing the situation he was in, Lamb made it a priority to soak up all the advice and information he could. Oklahoma City’s roster was loaded with “the greatest players in the game” when it came to veteran leadership.

Guys like Derek Fisher, Caron Butler, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison—along with Serge Ibaka and Thabo Sefolosha—guided Lamb every day he was there. The Thunder coaching staff kept him motivated to stay ready.

In the summer of 2015, Oklahoma City traded Lamb to the Hornets. He quickly signed a contract extension after the deal was made and has been with the franchise since.

When the move happened, Lamb knew his time was coming. All of those lessons he learned from the vets were going to pay off, and he took them with him in the next step of his career.

“All the stuff they told me, I lived by that and it stuck with me,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. “Just trying to get better every year, just trying to never be satisfied, trying to work on my weaknesses, trying to keep working on the things I was good at. I don’t know, just trying to stay focused and be the best player that I can be.”

One month into year seven as a pro, Lamb has secured a role with the starting five in Charlotte. And while he has started games in the past, things are different this time.

He’s looked more confident when he’s been out on the court. He’s getting into the paint at a high rate. He’s shooting a career-high three-point percentage.

And the most encouraging part of his game that’s improved? The defensive focus.

“Being a starting two-guard in the league is not easy,” Borrego said. “You gotta guard every single night, can’t take a night off. So I give him a lot of credit. He’s grown up a lot this season. I’m proud of him and I think he’s growing every single game.”

When asked why it’s taken Lamb longer than others to adapt to the NBA, the answer wasn’t an easy one to give for Borrego. It could be as simple as opportunity or a different type of learning curve, but there is no singular reason.

“It takes time,” Borrego said. “It just takes time to grow and mature and learn the game and figure out who you are and where you fit in this league. Sometimes it takes one year, two years and obviously here he is, seven years in, and he has his opportunity now.

Asking Lamb the same thing directly, he believes it comes down to applying the knowledge he’s gained and taking it year by year. While acknowledging that some in his draft class may have grown up at a fast rate, the 26-year-old also pointed out the chunk of players who are no longer a part of the association.

“Am I just getting comfortable in the league? I’m not just getting comfortable, but with every year you get more comfortable, more experience,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. More years, you know how the league is, you know how things go. So I’m not just now getting comfortable, but I get more and more comfortable every year for sure. It’s a blessing to be able to be in my seventh year.

“Nobody, including myself, thought that I would be in the league this long. And it’s just been a huge blessing and I’m trying to take advantage of it.”

Looking at Lamb’s success, it’s gone hand-in-hand with the new system Borrego has implemented. The Hornets are playing smart and defending well, and the players are buying in.

“Just trying to be aggressive, just trying to keep working,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders of his success. “Take what the defense gives me. I play off of Kemba [Walker]. They converge on him, I just try to knock down the shot.

“I think he really put [an] emphasis on threes and getting to the rim, and I feel like getting to the rim, good things happen. That’s one thing about his system. He really caters it to getting to the rim. So that’s why we’re getting more threes, we’re getting to the free throw line, we’re getting a lot of points in the paint, getting out in transition. It’s good.”

As per usual, Walker is on a tear, averaging over 26 points and getting up a team-high 10 threes per game for the first time in his career. He’s leading the Hornets on the floor and in the box scores. It’s almost as if the locker room should be endorsing the KeM-VP campaign.

“I think he is,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. “He been playing at that level right now and the sky’s the limit for him. That’s funny you say KeM-VP. That’s hilarious. But all his hard work is paying off. He’s been playing great and it’s been fun to watch.”

As one of the brighter young minds in the NBA, Borrego, a longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant and one-time Orlando Magic interim head coach, has brought a palpable liveliness and enthusiasm to the Hornets this year.

“It’s definitely been different,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. “It’s a new energy. Everything is different. I think we’ve adjusted well to the new system and [are] playing well.”

Borrego doesn’t necessarily think that there was a chemistry issue before he arrived. He and his staff only had one goal, and that was to make sure the guys on the roster played a selfless brand of basketball.

“When you have a healthy culture, when you have guys that believe in each other, like being around each other, they trust each other, they’re unselfish—I’ve seen what that does for a team,” Borrego said. “And it’s not always easy to change that.”

Attending Charlotte’s shoot-arounds in the past, at least from this writer’s perspective, you’d rarely hear the team as engaged as it was Tuesday morning in Cleveland.

Before media availability, curtains are closed and practices are private for the road team. But these guys were counting in unison as they battled each other in a team vs. team three-point contest.

It was the first to five or ten in each matchup. In the process, you could hear how much of a blast it was for everybody involved.

“These players are like, they’re kids,” Borrego said. “They get into it. They love it. They’re competitive. And that’s kind of the way to get them going in the morning. They don’t want to hear me talk about Cleveland or shoot-around or this or that.

“This group is really having fun this year. They’re excited. They like playing with each other. They like playing for one another. They like competing against each other in these games. So we believe we have a healthy locker room right now and a healthy group out there.”

A mixture of age groups on the roster could be a big reason why. Lamb thinks that the older guys who have been there and done that can help the youth develop. By the same token, those younger players provide the energy to practices and in the games, which can give the veterans a boost.

Lamb was approached with the term, “loose” to describe the mood of the team. He disagrees with that, but he senses the togetherness.

“We try to have fun,” Lamb told Basketball Insiders. “I didn’t know it’d be that much smiling at shoot-around because people be wanting to be in their bed. But no, we definitely try to make the most out of it. Every time we get, we try to get better.”

During Borrego’s time in San Antonio, he got to coach a man in a similar predicament. His name was Patty Mills, and, as we know, he’s turned into one of the most reliable players in this league for Gregg Popovich.

“He earned it,” Borrego said. “He grew over time and figured out his role in this league and he’s established himself.”

Now at the head of the ship in Charlotte, Borrego sees a similar path for Lamb.

“He’s not going anywhere,” Borrego said. “This is a guy that believes he belongs. He believes he can be a starter now, and I expect him to only grow from here.

“Once you get a taste of being a starter, you want to stay a starter, you want to keep that mentality—stay hungry, stay focused. So he has that ability to do that.”

Spencer Davies is an NBA writer based in Cleveland in his first year with Basketball Insiders. Covering the league and the Cavaliers for the past two seasons, his bylines have appeared on Bleacher Report, FOX Sports and HoopsHype.

A trio of players—Sterling Brown, George Hill and Ersan Ilyasova—participated in a best out of five at every spot around the perimeter. As each of them fired away, there was, of course, some playful jabbing, though nobody distracted one another.

Coming into Cleveland, Brown and Hill were each knocking down over 36 percent of their three-point attempts. But it was Ilyasova—the longest-tenured player of the group—who earned bragging rights with an (unofficial) contest win. Brown laughed and yelled after seeing the Turkish veteran drill the shots.

“Make ‘em in the game, Ers!”

Before taking the floor at Quicken Loans Arena three nights ago, Ilyasova had been uncharacteristically off the mark shooting from deep. In the preceding seven games, he took 20 threes and converted on just four of them. The slump took Ilyasova’s three-point percentage down to 32.8 percent, well below his career average of 36.5.

Brown’s comment had no ill-will intended towards Ilyasova, a teammate that the Bucks absolutely love in their locker room. It could be used for some encouragement, though—and it was.

For just the third time this season, Ilyasova hit three shots from beyond the arc in a dominant win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, taking his three-point percentage up by three points to a figure that suits him more naturally.

Asked pre-game about his recent struggles, Basketball Insiders found that Ilyasova won’t dwell on one part of a game, especially when he can help in other areas.

“Sometimes you have to accept your roles. Things have changed,” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders. “When you see my game, it’s just trying to help to get the team the win any way I can.

“Sometimes, you knock down those shots. Sometimes, you’re not. But it’s not all about can I make those shots. I think it’s all about just being productive, do something the other players cannot do.”

Being more aggressive defensively, finding the right spots, providing extra possessions, taking charges—these are the “different things” Ilyasova is trying to focus on when he’s playing the game.

There’s statistical evidence to support that last area. Ilyasova ranks second in the NBA with 12 charges drawn. Perhaps what’s most impressive about this figure is that he’s done so in 477 total minutes. Compared to Kyle Lowry and Tim Hardaway Jr., the league leaders with 13, that’s literally half of their playing time.

That gets us to our next point—Ilyasova isn’t seeing much of the floor at all. For the first time since his rookie season 12 years ago in Milwaukee, he is playing less than 20 minutes per game. He’s hovering right around that mark, yet it’s still significantly less action than his previous stops in Philadelphia and Atlanta.

Ilyasova acknowledged the decreased minutes as a potential reason for his inconsistent offensive production, but he is willing to sacrifice for the greater good of the Bucks.

“It’s all about [fitting in],” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders. “Obviously, we have Giannis [Antetokoumpo] – sometimes he plays more than 30 minutes a game, which is okay with me anytime, so it’s not a really big deal. I’m here just to help the team and the wins.

“And the coach just uses [me] whatever he uses the way he sees fit. I’m really cool with that. If we’re winning the games, it’s all good.”

This season has been a reunion for Ilyasova and Giannis. The two were teammates when the Greek Freak came into the NBA as a teenage prospect with raw talent.

Having been around Ilyasova at the beginning of his career, Giannis is ecstatic to have the 31-year-old around again in Milwaukee.

“I think he’s doing a great job being aggressive on the defensive end, crashing the boards, knocking down open shots,” Giannis said after the win in Cleveland.

“He’s so funny in the locker room. He’s just a great guy. Great energy. Plays it our way, plays hard. And he’s unselfish. He plays for the team. He does whatever it takes to help his team win and he’s just fun to be around. He’s basically one of my closest guys on the team.”

Reciprocating his teammate’s compliments, Ilyasova has greatly noticed the strides that the All-Star forward has made since his first couple of seasons.

“He’s proved a lot, you know? On the floor and off the court, as well,” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders of Giannis. “When I [had] seen him first, he obviously gained a lot of weight. He was skinnier then what he [is] right now, way skinny.

“But now he’s improved a lot – the vision, all aspects of basketball. Because I think back in the day, it was more like a try to kinda penetrate and score, now he’s just kinda trying to pass. He plays real decent defense. Like I said, he’s just improved overall.”

As Giannis has gotten better, so have the Bucks. Albeit the coaching situation has been everything but concrete in the last few years, the organization might have finally found real stability with its hiring of Mike Budenholzer.

For starters, Milwaukee is playing a modern-era style of basketball. The goal is to make threes and get stops with a lengthy, versatile roster comprised of players who can defend and shoot. Efficiency and toughness seem to be the two staples to Budenholzer’s methods, and they’re working.

While Giannis is at the center of the Bucks’ success as a scorer and as a willing passer, which Budenholzer has encouraged him to be, it isn’t just about the Greek Freak.

“It’s allowed me to take my next step, but I feel like right now we’re playing so good and the offense fits this team and as a team we’re taking the next step,” Giannis said. “I feel everybody can come in and contribute and the offense that Coach Bud has us running makes my teammates great, so I’m really happy about that.

“I know that everybody can come in and touch the ball, get some energy of the ball, get some open shots, get some open threes, play some defense. It’s just fun playing in this system.”

According to Cleaning The Glass, the Bucks rank second in offensive rating (114.3) and seventh in defensive rating (106.1). They lead the league in three-point makes per game (14.1) and have held their competition to a league-low 43.7 field goal percentage from the field.

This is Ilyasova’s second straight season playing for Budenholzer in some capacity. He played 72 games under the veteran head coach during his time with the Hawks, so seeing this success in Milwaukee isn’t surprising one bit.

“He gives you a lot of freedom to play, just kinda be their own [player] and create some stuff. We really play open basketball,” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders.

“Just kinda ball movement, try to [find] the open man and then shoot a lot of three-point shots. The way that basketball is going right now, it’s just a lot of teams just kinda trying to do the same thing – play small and just play faster.”

Recently, the Bucks decided to bolster their roster with a couple of veteran additions, George Hill and Jason Smith. Both guys have played against Ilyasova in meaningful games. With Smith, particularly, it was in the postseason.

Ilyasova feels their experiences will bring a necessary element to a team striving for big things come mid-April and, hopefully, beyond. With five years of playoff experience under his belt, he believes that home court advantage can be critical.

It’s clear that the Bucks’ aspirations are high, as are many teams’ hopes in the Eastern Conference. Looking at the top five, the gap between the top of the mountain and middle of the pack is a mere three-and-a-half games.

It’s early, but Milwaukee’s loss in Indiana was a bit of a stinger as far as the standings go. The team got back on track with a convincing win over the Cavaliers and will aim to close this brief Central Division road trip out on a high note against the Detroit Pistons.

“It’s a lot of games to play,” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders. “It’s not easy to just come up and kinda assume you know you’re gonna win those games. You have to come up and give your 110 percent to win the games.

“It doesn’t even matter – even same game when you play against Cleveland, all those teams below the .500 [mark] right now – you have to come up and put [everything] on the line to win the games.”

Pose a question about the general favorites to come out of the East and you’ll probably hear the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors and the Philadelphia 76ers at the top of the list.

Not too many seem to hold the Bucks in the same regard as those three. Ilyasova admits that it can provide a little extra motivation to prove that they do belong in that conversation.

“I think we have really good talent on the team,” Ilyasova told Basketball Insiders. “Our expectations [are] high. For us, just being in the playoffs, that’s not a goal no more, just go farther.”

“Our goal is always being a championship-caliber team, but before we reach that it’s just first to reach the playoffs. We have to set the goals, not just kinda looking forward to it. Obviously, winning the most games we can and go with it.”

Once upon a time, Jabari Parker was supposed to be the NBA’s next big thing.

Now, he’s potentially the NBA’s next salary dump.

The man who was once deemed a “can’t miss prospect” merely four years ago is now the latest installment in what’s been a rare pattern this season of teams cutting ties very early with their most recent offseason additions.

First, it was Houston when they decided to oust Carmelo Anthony after ten games. Then, Phoenix did the same with Trevor Ariza after 26 games. And now, it appears that Jabari is now done-zo in the Windy City after 29 games.

The difference between Carmelo/Ariza and Jabari is that the former two’s stints in their new homes coming to a quick end wasn’t all that unexpected. Carmelo’s move to Houston drew a lot of skepticism given what had happened in his previous year at OKC, while Ariza joined a team who had very little expectation to begin with.

Jabari is another story. It’s true that he didn’t come into Chicago with any major expectations. Signing a two-year, $40 million contract with a team option for next year meant virtually no downside for the Bulls. If Parker panned out, then they’d keep him, and if not, they could get him off the books easily.

While things haven’t worked out, the Bulls surprisingly have elected to pull the plug now rather than just wait it out until the end of the season. Coupling this along with the Bulls’ most recent turmoil makes you wonder how much Parker has to do with it. Maybe it’s just a coincidence, or maybe he’s the direct source.

Either way, Jabari’s going to have a new home sometime in the near future. The question asked here isn’t going to be where that is. Instead, the question is, when he is traded to his next team, will he ever be the player we all thought he would be?

Remember that this is the same guy who back in 2012 was deemed “the best high school basketball player since LeBron James.” The same guy that prompted several teams to throw away their season just for the chance to get their hands on him in the 2014 draft. The same guy who many thought was the perfect partner-in-crime to pair up with Giannis Antetokounmpo.

We’ve seen stretches of that player since Parker came into the NBA. They’ve just come so rarely and, even when they have, they haven’t always led to a positive impact. Unfortunately, the warning signs that came with Jabari coming out of college have definitely manifested themselves.

First, remember that whole, “they don’t pay players to play defense” schtick that Jabari said non-sarcastically at his introductory press conference? Well, the man deserves credit for keeping it real.

That little snippet is one of many examples of Parker’s ineptitude on the defensive end. Again, he wasn’t expected to be Kawhi Leonard out there, but no player who wants to make it in this league should have instances where they look completely helpless on that end of the floor.

Statistics don’t exactly help his case either. Outside of his tragically cut-short rookie season, Parker’s never had a defensive rating lower than 110 according to Basketball Reference, and the Bulls are minus-4.2 in defensive rating with Parker on the floor this season, per NBA.com.

Secondly, it’s Parker’s inability to help the offense despite his reputation as an offensively-savvy player.

It sounds odd because basic statistics will tell you that Jabari’s doing just fine. He’s putting 15.2 points on 45 percent shooting as well as corralling 6.9 rebounds a night. In fact, the Bulls are plus-3 in offensive rating when he’s on the floor. A closer look, though, will say otherwise.

Even if the Bulls are technically better offensively with Jabari on the floor, he only raises their offensive rating from 95 to 98 when he’s on the floor. The Bulls currently have the lowest rated offense at 100.7 according to Basketball Reference, so it’s not as if his contributions make things that much better.

Other metrics prove that Parker’s a negative offensively to the Bulls. His offensive win shares are currently at -0.9, and his offensive box plus/minus is -3.3. Perhaps the worst indicator of his negative impact on offense is his mid-range shooting.

Jabari Parker ranks in the 94th percentile for Long Midrange Frequency – and LaVine ranks 72nd amongst players at their position per @cleantheglass#YIKES

Parker currently shoots 18.3 percent of his shots from 16 feet to less than the 3-point arc. That wouldn’t be so bad if he could regularly hit those shots, but he only hits 35.2 percent of them. Compare to that to say, Kevin Durant, who shoots a higher percentage of his shots from 16 feet to less than the 3-point arc at 19.2 percent, and hits 49.1 percent of them.

Here’s the worst one of them all – of the 451 players listed on ESPN’s Real Plus-Minus, Parker currently ranks 439 with a Real Plus-Minus of -4.17.

It really doesn’t look good for him, and his disappointing start so far both this year and his career so far is eerily similar to another player who went down as one of the bigger busts in recent memory: Michael Beasley.

Beasley came into the NBA with major expectations. His scoring prowess seemed so advanced that he drew comparisons to Kevin Durant. Of course, Beasley didn’t pan out and even found himself out of the league for a bit because of two reasons.

1. His porous defense.
2. His insistence on taking long two’s instead of threes
3. His poor mental state

Since coming back into the league, he has since found his niche, which is good to see for him. That still doesn’t rid him of the bust label. Parker does not have the same mental struggles that Beasley had, but their two other struggles are very much alike.

Cut Jabari some slack though. A fair amount of his problems are not his fault. Tearing the same ACL twice in a 2.5-year span is a huge hurdle to get over. That had to play a role in his lack of progression, which is a given. There might, however, be two other specific reasons as to what’s stopped him from putting it together.

First is that Jabari has never exactly played under a well-regarded coach. So far, Parker has played for four head coaches: Jason Kidd, Joe Prunty, Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylen. None of these four coaches have made any serious noise in the NBA, with the closest one to doing so being Kidd. Kidd’s best run as coach didn’t happen in Milwaukee, and he was rumored to be at odds with Parker.

Parker was part of arguably the most underachieving team in the league under Kidd/Prunty, and then went to play for a team whose coaching situation isn’t very stable at the moment in Chicago. One could argue that because he’s never played under a good coach in the NBA, Jabari’s never been given a real chance to prove himself.

Playing under the right coach could help with the second reason he hasn’t figured it out, which is him playing in the right role. Parker came into the league with an undefined position. Teams weren’t sure which position he would thrive in since he had the height to play both small and power forward. According to Basketball Reference, Parker has played the majority of his minutes – 81 percent – at power forward, which made him an awkward fit on the Bucks and the Bulls.

Both Milwaukee and Chicago have excellent young talent at power forwards with the Greek Freak and Lauri Markkanen, which probably limited Parker’s effectiveness. If he’s on a team that doesn’t have a power forward that could get in his way, that could lead to a breakthrough for the guy. That is also banking on the idea that he would be playing under the right coach.

This is all speculative though. Even if he hasn’t played under the most competent head coaches, or for the most stable organizations, a guy with as much talent as Jabari Parker shouldn’t have his production be delayed for as long as it has.

If Parker doesn’t turn it around on his next team, then his excuses may run out, as well as his time in the NBA.

NBA Daily: Suns Change Course With Trade

The beginning to this season has been a whirlwind and the Western Conference is as competitive as ever. At 13-16, even the 14th place Minnesota Timberwolves are still not that far outside of the playoff picture. Every Western Conference team is competitive, except for the Phoenix Suns. Now, the Suns have won their last two games, including a win over the Timberwolves. Regardless, they are still well outside the playoff picture and should be primarily focused on the big picture beyond this season.

Adrian Wojnarowksi of ESPN took league and its fans on a rollercoaster this past Friday when he broke the news that the Washington Wizards, Memphis Grizzlies and Suns were on the cusp of completing a three-way trade. For the Suns, this three-way trade centered around moving forward Trevor Ariza. As quickly as the news had erupted, it appeared to go sideways with revelations of miscommunications between the teams and which players were going to be involved. Soon after the miscommunication came to light, news leaked that the deal was off.

The Suns and Wizards didn’t take long to re-engage in trade talks. On Saturday, the Suns and Wizards were able to complete a trade. The Suns received guard Austin Rivers and forward Kelly Oubre, Jr. In exchange, the Suns sent Ariza (again) to the Wizards. The Wizards are hoping that Ariza’s return helps to solve the chemistry issues that have thrown a wrench into this season so far.

“One of the best veteran teammates I’ve had,” John Wall said regarding Ariza.

In addition, the trade helps the Wizards avoid having to re-sign Oubre, Jr. at a time when their salary cap remains bloated for the foreseeable future.

For the Suns, they get a young, talented player in Oubre, Jr., who may be a huge part of the team’s plan going forward if he can take a significant step forward in his development. However, getting another wing isn’t the exact elixir that this team needs. Quality point guard play has been elusive for the Suns. A few weeks ago the team gave Elie Okobo a chance to step into the role. Okobo spoke to Basketball Insiders around this time about his effort and what he could work on going forward.

“I’m just trying to be aggressive and help my team to win games. I work hard and try to help them and get the confidence, trust from them and the coaching staff,” Okobo told Basketball Insiders. “I would say the playmaking, avoid the little turnovers, the little mistakes and make my open shots and just try to play really aggressive and defend.”

Amidst an extended losing streak, Okobo’s playing time decreased after starting three games in that period. Recently, the Suns allowed De’Anthony Melton to play and show that he could step up. Melton has started the last five games and has shown himself to be capable as well. The Suns have even won the last two games to break their losing streak.

A few good games don’t necessarily mean the point guard situation is settled long-term. In addition to Oubre, Jr, the Suns also received Rivers. With the Los Angeles Clippers, Rivers showed himself capable of stepping in as an off-guard who could handle the point in spot minutes, when needed. Over the years, Rivers has also proven himself to be a capable off-the-bench scorer who could exert above average effort, especially on defense.

With Washington, Rivers was expected to be a reliable bench scorer and someone who could fill in for one of the team’s lead guards, if necessary. However, the Wizards season didn’t start off as they had intended. Rivers never found a comfortable fit on offense and often sat on the bench for key stretches. To his credit, Rivers did prove himself to be a capable and focused defender.

Whether Rivers will get a chance to prove himself worthy of major minutes is up in the air. What the Suns need is a lead reliable point guard capable of relieving Devin Booker from his responsibilities as the team’s lead playmaker. Suns Head Coach Igor Kokoškov expressed his interest in doing so to Basketball Insiders earlier this season.

“I think Devin Booker’s main thing, his job description is to score for us. He is a scoring guard and he is doing a lot of handling, a lot of playmaking, we never put him on a point guard to guard. So, whoever you guard, that is your position. He is not a point guard. He’s a playmaker, he’s going to handle a lot. James Harden is a playmaker, a scoring guard. Same type, same type of player,” Kokoškov said.

Now with Rivers in Phoenix, he might have a chance to play as an off-guard who can help bring the ball up the court, handle in spots, defer to Booker and play defense.

“If we have a traditional point guard or not, Booker’s going to have the ball in his hands,” Kokoškov said.

Kelly Oubre, Jr. is the major addition for the Suns in this trade, showing Phoenix is now mostly concerned with the future. However, a player like Rivers could prove valuable this season and could have an impact on roster decisions the team makes moving forward.